ABOUT
With a long-standing history of caring for the community, Meritus Health relentlessly pursues excellence to improve the health status of the region. Meritus Health constantly improves its health care quality and patient satisfaction while ensuring high quality standards. Meritus Health’s success is recognized by many awards from the national, regional, and state organizations listed below.
Meritus Medical Center has been named Best Hospital in the VerStandig Media Best of the Tristate 2022.
The announcement comes after more than two years of never-before-seen challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Members of the Meritus family have been working diligently and with precise expertise to be there for their community during this unprecedented time.
"The past two years have been full of unprecedented challenges for all of us. Our dedicated healthcare heroes have been there in many ways for this community so earning our community’s votes means so much to us,” said President and CEO, Dr. Maulik Joshi. “We continue to do all we can to provide the very best in care, and are so proud to work for and with this community. We are so proud to be voted Best Hospital by the tri-state region.”
Meritus is honored to be able to provide the best care in our region to our patients and their families.
Meritus Medical Center received an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit upholding the standard of patient safety in hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. This national distinction celebrates Meritus’ achievements in prioritizing patient safety by protecting patients from preventable harm and errors. The new grades reflect performance primarily during the height of the pandemic.
"This top-quality rating is a testament to the dedication of our Meritus teams who are continuously working to improve quality and patient safety,” said Carrie Adams, Pharm.D., Chief Operating Officer.
“Our hospital has a goal of zero harm and we work hard each day to create the culture of safety needed to support our patients. Caring for our neighbors is an absolute privilege and ensuring that care is provided in a safe and healing environment is a top priority. Thank you all for being an ‘A’ each day,” Adams said.
The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization, assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” grade to general hospitals across the country based on over 30 national performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries and infections, as well as systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm.
“This new update of Hospital Safety Grades shows that, at the national level, we saw deterioration in patient safety with the pandemic,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “But this hospital received an ‘A’ despite those challenges. I congratulate all the leaders, staff, volunteers and clinicians who together made that possible.”
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harm to patients. The grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. Grades are updated twice annually, in the fall and spring.
Meritus Health was named the 2022 Employer of the Year during the 68th Annual Power of Work Awards presented by Horizon Goodwill Industries, Inc.
“The partnership we have with Horizon Goodwill is one that benefits the community as a whole. We are two community-focused organizations and have many of the same goals, so it was a natural fit,” said Dave Lehr, chief strategy officer.
In a workforce development initiative, the two organizations partnered, along with Maryland Physicians Care, to launch the Pathway to Healthcare Careers program in fall 2022.
The program has proven success, with applicants who were hired in the fall obtaining a retention bonus of $500 in April. Additionally, all of the team members hired through the Pathway to Healthcare program were impacted when Meritus raised its minimum wage to $17/hour.
“We are working together to find positions to suit the skills of some of the clients at Goodwill,” Lehr said. “We’ve hired food and nutrition aids, environmental services workers, receptionists and more,” he added.
The team members are provided great benefits and pay, while gaining access to career advancement opportunities. Goodwill provides transportation when needed, and support to ensure the team members have a good work- and home-life.
“We’re honored to receive this award from Horizon Goodwill, but we’re even more honored to be able to share the outcomes of our initiatives that demonstrate not only the power of work, but the power of working together,” Lehr said.
The DAISY Foundation was established in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died of complications of the auto-immune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP) at the age of 33. (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) During Pat’s eight week hospitalization, his family was awestruck by the care and compassion his nurses provided not only to Pat but to everyone in his family. One of the goals they set in creating a foundation in Pat’s memory was to recognize extraordinary nurses everywhere who make an enormous difference in the lives of so many people by the super-human work they do every day.
The DAISY Award is an international program that rewards and celebrates the extraordinary clinical skill and compassionate care given by nurses every day. Meritus Health is proud to be a DAISY Award Partner, recognizing one of our nurses monthly with this special honor. To find out more about the program, including the growing list of Partners, please visit DAISYfoundation.org.
The DAISY Team Award is designed to honor collaboration by two or more people, led by a nurse, who identify and meet patient and/or patient family needs by going above and beyond the traditional role of Nursing. The team award is presented each May, but nominations are received throughout the year.
Nominate a team of 2 or more people led by a nurse for the Daisy Team Award by clicking the link below.